Trip Report by Danny Uhlmann IFMGA Guide - Chamonix

This year began as an unrelenting wet spring turned into a ferociously hot and dry June in the Alps. The start of my 14th summer season as a mountain guide in Chamonix was rainy and snowy at altitude. What seemed like an auspicious start to a ‘classic’ Alps summer quickly morphed, as a heat wave descended upon Europe in the second week of June.

Luckily in the Mont-Blanc massif when mixed conditions deteriorate, there are endless options for climbing long granite rock walls. So, with my client Ghita we set out to climb several of the best crack climbs which fit the conditions. Over the last couple years of climbing together, she has developed a rather insatiable appetite for steep orange granite, and I do my best to oblige. We have lists upon lists of climbing goals, some borrowed from Chamonix guides such as Rebuffat or Batoux, and some of our own creation.

Over the course of 2.5 weeks, during which the weather was consistently good (albeit scorchingly hot for the season, even at altitude), we climbed the south faces of the Aiguille du Midi, Pointe Lachenal, Pointe Adolphe Rey (twice), and the Petit Clocher du Portalet, among others. We camped under the stars in Switzerland, rode many lifts, stayed in alpine huts, and generally climbed hard for the bulk of June.

I don’t want to sugar coat it: climate change is ravaging the glaciated peaks of the Alps, and the Chamonix area is taking that hit as hard, or harder, than other parts of Europe. This is due to a specific mixture of topography and geography. What we are doing now is trying to adapt. To not risk the homeostasis of going forward with the same issues as they were in the past. What this means for climbers and guides is often trading the ice tools for the climbing shoes much earlier in the season than in previous years, previous decades. 

We must be nimble in the mind and flexible in our planning to chose the right objective on the right day. But in the end, when we are staring down 1000 feet of orange splitter granite, day after day, this compromise doesn’t seem so bad after all.

Story by Danny Uhlmann

IFMGA Guide & Geologist

Interested in climbing around Chamonix? Check out First Light Mountain Guides.